2016 UMP headliner Pop Dogg says Malawi urban music growing

Ireland based Malawian hip hop star PopDogg has described Malawi’s urban music industry as a fast growing industry as he prepares to headline this year’s Urban Music Party (UMP) festival slated for November 6.

UMP is an urban music festival held annually to celebrate urban music and will this year be held at BAT ground in Blantyre. It is expected to give a platform for Malawi urban artists to showcase their talents.

“In terms of music quality and visuals that are being produced, I can say Malawi urban music is still progressing. However, it is important to know that music content depends with the individual behind it, how they are going to brand their image and market their music.

“On the other hand, apart from just entertaining, I believe music should also inspire people. My music through songs like ‘I live in Hell’ and ‘Malawi Moto’ has a lot of inspirational and positive messages.

“I know of people here and back home who have been very successful after going through various struggles but had been inspired through something. Music should also do the same to people. I was inspired by Steve Jobs to compose the song ‘iPhone’, and I hope the song inspired someone somewhere to buy an iPhone,” said PopDogg.

The ‘Tchopa ndi Manganje’ hit maker said being invited to perform at the UMP is a great honor and described the festival as a big platform for urban music artists to showcase their talent and music.

However, he said for Malawian urban music industry to continue growing, “It needs more of such platforms”, said PopDogg, who has not set foot in Malawi for the past 8 years.

“Not only am I excited about the UMP, I am also overwhelmed that I will be visiting my home country, reuniting with friends and family and my fan base. I missed a lot of things in Malawi such as our indigenous food like Chambo, the various fish we have and even sugarcane. These are things we in Malawi take for granted but are a gold mine in Europe,” said PopDogg, who recently released a 4k music video of his song ‘Malawi Moto.’

PopDogg boasted that the video, which was directed by Joe Chad, could be one of the best music videos with the best picture quality around.

“4k cinema is the camera that is currently being used to shoot Hollywood movies. The quality is overwhelming, this means the ‘Malawi Moto’ video could be the only video in Malawi shot with a 4k camera and of such high quality. This makes me feel like I am over the moon,” said Pop Dogg.